Potsdam boys outlast Canton, SLC surges past FA in boys hockey

Potsdam Central remained unbeaten atop the Division I standings with a 3-1 win at home over Canton while St. Lawrence Central took over the top spot in the Division II race with a convincing 7-3 decision on the road over St. Lawrence Central in NAC boys hockey action on Wednesday.

The other games of the night saw Norwood-Norfolk turn back the Islanders 5-2 and OFA blank Tupper Lake 3-0.

Potsdam 3, Canton 1: At Pine Street Arena, the visiting Bears got on the board first when E.J.Curtis controlled the puck behind the Potsdam net and swept around to score an unassisted power play goal at the 4:24 mark. The Sandstoners countered just 34 seconds later with Trevor Keleher knocking home a centering pass from Chad Varney. Robbie Scott struck for the eventual game-winner with 5:53 left in the first period off an assist from Keleher. Varney sealed the win with an unassisted empty-net goal with just six seconds remaining.

The Sandstoners, who have now reeled off four straight wins to improve to 7-2 overall and 4-0 in the NAC, will look to stay on track this weekend at the Raider Invitational Tournament in Massena where they are slated to take on Rome Free Academy on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Lancaster on Saturday at noon.

Things are going pretty well for us right now, noted coach Al Benda. This will be a tough weekend. The two teams we play against in Massena are supposed to be pretty solid.

SLC 7, FA 3: At the Malone Community Center arena, the visiting Larries set the tone for their high-scoring win in the first 20 minutes of the game.

We came out flying, said coach Mickey Locke after his team notched its seventh straight win and sixth straight NAC win. We outshot them 17-3 in the first period then we got a couple of quick goals early in the second and that was pretty much it.

The Larries applied steady pressure the entire first period and came away with a 2-0 lead with goals just over a minute apart. Kody Kocsis opened the scoring with a power play goal assisted by Devon Euto and Lukas Arquiett at the 8:40 mark. Nate Stickney made it a two-goal lead at 9:47 with an unassisted tally.

Another quick scoring outburst pushed the SLC lead to 4-0 in the second period with Koscis connecting from Arquiett and Eric Lynch at 4:01. Lynch then converted off an assist from Arquiett just 25 seconds later for what would stand as the game-winner.

Trevor Henderson got FA on the board at the 5:20 mark assisted by Tucker Bartenslager as the teams generated a combined six goals in the middle frame where the Larries built a 6-2 lead.

Arquiett closed out the scoring with a goal assisted by Kocsis with 5:50 left in regulation to finish with a goal and three assists. Kocsis had a three-point night on two goals and an assist. Stickney also had two goals. Blake Baldwin fashioned a goal and assist. Euto wound up with two assists while Park Meashaw logged a solo helper.

Tanner Studlack and Jake Henning scored the other FA goals while Jacob Scharf and Cameron Daniels each posted solo assists.

The Larries (9-2, 6-1) are slated to compete at the Norwood-Norfolk Tournament this weekend, taking on Plattsburgh on Friday at 8 p.m. and then the host Icemen on Saturday, in what will also serve as an NAC league game, starting at 3 p.m.

N-N 5, Islanders 2: At Dominic Zappia Arena, the Icemen overcame a first-period deficit with three straight third-period goals in raising their NAC record to 4-3.

Nick McCabe opened the scoring for the Islanders assisted by Sean Shepard and Kyle Delaney with a power play goal just 1:46 into the game.

The Icemen tied the game at 4:36 of the second when Zeb Brown scored a power play goal off an assist from Austin Cousineau. Brandon Short made it 2-1 with a power play goal set up by Shane Cryderman and Cousineau at the 6:14 mark before Troy Kovach intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, skated around an Islanders defenseman then went into to score an unassisted goal that would hold up as the game-winner at 13:06.

Delaney cut the deficit to 3-2 with just 33 seconds left in the middle frame assisted by McCabe and Shepard but the Icemen put the game out of reach with a pair of third-period goals, the first by Kaden Pickering assisted by Kovach at 3:36 and the second by Cody Smith assisted by Short and Kovach with 3:43 remaining.

Brandon Richards had 21 stops in the winning effort while Cole James handled 29 shots for the Islanders.

The Icemen (6-4, 3-3) host a tournament this weekend at the Dominic Zappia Arena. They face Northwood Prep on Friday at 6 p.m. before facing SLC on Saturday at 3 p.m. in what will also stand as an NAC contest.

OFA 3, Tupper Lake 0: In Ogdensburg, the Blue Devils (5-3, 5-1) got two goals and an assist from Brandon Mullin while David Prudhomme made 10 saves backstopping the shutout. Burke Comeau had the other OFA goal.

Marcus Richer posted 48 saves for the Lumberjacks (1-8-2, 1-7).

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